Books to Read Right Now
Our librarians share some of the books available through the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library system that we hope will assist readers in exploring relevant and timely topics.
Books About Anti-Racism and Racial Justice
FOR TEENS & ADULTS
A Wreath for Emmett Till by Marilyn Nelson
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose
Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon
How it Went Down by Kekla Magoon
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
Negroland: A Memoir by Margo Jefferson
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore
We are Not Yet Equal: Understanding Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
FOR TEENS
A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 by Claire Hartfield
Black Enough edited by Ibi Zoboi
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett
Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case by Chris Crowe
I’m Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Light It Up by Kekla Magoon
March written by John Lewis & Andrew Aydin
Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson
Say Her Name by Zetta Elliott
Stolen Justice: The Struggle for African American Voting Rights by Lawrence Goldstone
X by Ilyasah Shabazz with Kekla Magoon
FOR MIDDLE GRADE YOUTH
Blended by Sharon Draper
Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendships by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, and illustrated by Sean Qualls
For Black Girls Like Me by Mariama J. Lockington
From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks
Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams
A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramée
Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop by Alice Faye Duncan and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
FOR YOUNG READERS
Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry and illustrated by Vashti Harrison
I Got Next by Daria Peoples-Riley and illustrated by the author
My Mommy Medicine by Edwidge Danticat and illustrated by Shannon Wright
Saturday by Oge Mora and illustrated by the author
Sing a Song: How ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ Inspired Generations by Kelly Starling Lyons and illustrated by Keith Mallett
Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o and illustrated by Vashti Harrison
Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora and illustrated by the author
The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander and illustrated by Kadir Nelson
What Is Given from the Heart by Patricia C. McKissack and illustrated by April Harrison
You Matter by Christian Robinson and illustrated by the author